The Blue Heron Press, Inc.
1952-1956
43 West 94 Street, New York 25
(1952)
47 West 63 Street, New York 23
(1953 - 1956)
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With the self-publication of Spartacus, for five years Howard Fast was an author-publisher. He incorporated, and the new name and address appeared for the first time in the 7th printing of Spartacus, the paperback edition, in April, 1952.
Frank Campenni [1930-2000], in his 1971 dissertation, "Citizen Howard Fast: A Critical Biography", writes
"...Fast organized the Blue Heron publishing house, which he named after the inn where the Jewish patriot, Haym Salomon, had hidden out while fleeing his British pursuers (as chronicled in Fast's biographical novel of Salomon [Haym Salomon; Son of Liberty] in 1941)." [372]
The relevant section of Haym Salomon, Salomon having escaped from prison on the eve of his scheduled execution:
"He came to a heavily timbered building, with a sign out showing that it was called the 'Blue Heron Rest.' The Stars and Stripes hung over the doorway, but Salomon was quite certain that somewhere the innkeeper had folded away a Union Jack..." [p 66, 1941]
Fast himself, in his 1990 Being Red says,
"I incorporated and became the Blue Heron Press. The name rose from the caustic suggestion of a friend that I call it the Red Herring Press, and while that was colorful, it did not strike me as a fruitful aid to selling books." [298]
Between 1952 and 1956*, Blue Heron published 16 titles, 11 by Fast — the paperback Spartacus, four new books, an anthology of short stories, a play published in England, and a 4-volume uniform reedition of his best works, in hardcover and paperback.
*(when the Khrushchev Report was released, resulting in Fast's public disavowal of Communism... published in The Naked God, in 1957 by Praeger)
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1952
1. Spartacus (1951)
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1952 (Apr). pbk, 7th printing, 20.6 cm, Blue Heron Press. 43 West 94 Street, New York 25. ($1.00)*
The first Blue Heron Press book. The first six printings show "Published by the author", and the Box 171 address. This has not changed on the title page, but "The Blue Heron Press" is now printed on the back cover.
The back covers of some later Blue Heron Press editions (e.g. The Last Supper) offer Spartacus (cloth $2.50, paper $1.00). This is the $1.00 paper edition.
(original scans by Nile Hagen of Longfellow's Books)
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2. Freedom Road (1944)
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1952. 263 pp, 21 cm, [brown cloth, black lettering] ($2.00)*
To the men and women, black and white, yellow and brown, who have laid down
their lives in the struggle against fascism.
ABOUT THIS EDITION (from the dustjacket flap)
This edition of Freedom Road, with a special introduction by the great American Scholar, Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, is the first in a project to bring into print a collected edition of the works of Howard Fast. At intervals of a few months hereafter, The Blue Heron Press will publish other Fast books which are now out of print. They will be uniform with this edition of Freedom Road, so that by buying them as they appear, one can plan to acquire a uniform collected works. Freedom Road is also available in attractive, sturdy paper covers; price $1.00.
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pbk, 263 pp, 20.4 cm. ($1.00)*
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3. Tony and the Wonderful Door
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1952 (Nov). "First Printing". [tan linson, brown lettering], 64 pp, 24.2 cm, illustrations by William Vigoda. ($2.00)*
For my own children and for all the
other children who keep asking me why
I don't write more books for them.
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1953
7. The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti; a New England legend
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1953 (Aug). 254 pp, 21 cm, "First Printing, 1953", [orange-red linson, black lettering]. ($3.00)*
TO THOSE brave Americans who, today and yesterday, have accepted prison and even death--rather than betray the principles they believed in, the land they loved, or the people whose trust they bore.
The dustjacket advertises all the Blue Heron volumes above, and other Fast novels. The 4th printing lists:
1st printing - August 1953; 2nd printing - August 1953; 3rd printing - August 1953; 4th printing - September 1953.
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| 8. The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
 W.E. Burghardt Du Bois [1868-1963]
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1953. (Oct). 265 pp, 21 cm, [black cloth spine, printed boards, glassine dj]. ($5.00)*
To Burghardt and Yolande
the lost and the found"Copyright A.C. McClurg & Co. Copyrighted 1953 by W.E. Burghardt Du Bois".
"When Shirley Graham came to me and asked me whether I would reprint W. E. B. Du Bois's classic work, The Souls of Black Folk, which no other publisher would touch, I agreed - again, a no-profit-net-loss project, but a very beautiful book that made me quite proud." Being Red
New Introduction to Fiftieth Anniversary Jubilee Edition
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1992 |
|  | The
Souls of Black
folk
A limited, numbered and
autographed edition of
W. E. Burghardt Du Bois'
famous book - published
on the fiftieth anniversary
of its original issuance
1903 • 1953
W.E.B.Du Bois
The Blue Heron Press, Inc. |
THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK
by Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois $5.00
First published fifty years ago, this beautiful book is widely considered the classic of American Negro literature. Until recently, it was out of print and prictically unobtainable. Now, for the first time in a generation, it is available.
The BLUE HERON edition of The Souls of Black Folk has been limited to 2000 copies. Each copy is numbered and autographed by Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois. A new foreword by Dr. Du Bois and an introduction by Shirley Graham have been written for this JUBILEE EDITION. The book is handsomely printed and bound.
From the dusjacket of "The Best Untold" |
(On the dustjackets of Goldsborough (1954) and Sonnets of Love and Liberty (1955)
the price is $3.00, perhaps without the autograph label.) |
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1954
1955
| 14. Sonnets of Love and Liberty
Walter Lowenfels [1897-1976]
| Walter Lowenfels (1897-1976) came to prominence as one of the US
ex-pats living in Paris in the 1920's and 30's. He co-founded Carrefour
Press, which famously advocated "the anonymous movement." His early volumes
of poetry were widely praised and he was often mentioned in the same breath
as Pound and cummings (Henry Miller called him "probably the poet of his
age"). He is also partially responsible for the landmark "Imagist
Anthology" (he jokingly suggested it) which brought the movement to
prominence. As his activism increased, he abandoned poetry in favor of
left-wing causes. Lowenfels was a member of the Communist Party and worked
for the Daily Worker from the late 1930's until 1953, when he was convicted
for conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government (the conviction was soon
overturned). In his later years, he returned to poetry, but is perhaps
best-remembered for his editing of several anthologies of poetry in support
of various causes. A quietly (at least now) significant figure in American
letters.
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1956
RETURN
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Blue Heron Press
Citizen Tom Paine
Freedom Road
Last Frontier
My Glorious Brothers
Spartacus
The Children
Peekskill
Unvanquished
Masuto
EVC's Women
